Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma tops A’s, Angels 1 1/2 games back in West

Substitute Felix Hernandez with Hisashi Iwakuma, and basically, you’ve got it: Not much Oakland offense, while the Mariners chipped away with a run here, a homer there to beat the A’s 6-2. Brandon Moss provided the A’s only runs with a two-out homer in the ninth, his 20th of the season, to prevent Iwakuma from throwing a shutout.

“We just got Felix and Iwakuma,” Moss said of the A’s dropping the first two at Safeco Field. “Obviously you hate getting beat by those guys, but we get beat by them quite a bit. They are a really good one-two. They’re a tough at-bat for sure and get you thinking about things you shouldn’t be thinking about. It’s like they’re always one pitch ahead of you.”

Also same-y: the Angels recorded their fifth win in a row, beating Texas 5-2, and suddenly the Angels have crept just 1 ½ games behind Oakland in the AL West, baseball’s best division. The A’s and Angels have the top two records in the majors, and the Angels and Mariners hold down the two wild-card spots in the AL right now.

The A’s are in danger of being swept at Seattle on Sunday, and going into the break only half a game up in the division.

“They’re playing well,” Moss said of the Angels. “We’re paying attention to it because they’re in our division, but at the same time, it’s July. It’s just now about to be the All-Star break. We’ve been playing well and we believe we’ll continue to play well and if they do the same, it should be a really good race.”

Yoenis Cespedes returned to the starting lineup after sitting on Friday night against Hernandez and he entered the night with good numbers against Iwakuma – 8 for 18 with three homers. He went 0 for 4, however, and is 0 for his past 15 overall. Cespedes pulled up slowly after reaching on an error in the fourth inning; Melvin said he is dealing with hamstring tightness again and will DH on Sunday,

The four All-Stars in Oakland’s lineup on Saturday – Cespedes, Moss, Josh Donaldson and Derek Norris – went 2 for 15 with four strikeouts.

“Our offense has not been as good as we certainly have been for the better part of the half,” manager Bob Melvin said, citing injuries to leadoff hitter Coco Crisp and right fielder Josh Reddick as well as Alberto Callaspo’s hamstring injury Friday night. “We’re struggling some in the middle of the order, it’s been a bit of a fight to score a bunch of runs. On top of that, two well-pitched games against us. … It goes back and forth. We will get hot again.”

Cespedes did throw out yet another runner, nailing Willie Bloomquist trying to score from second on a base hit by Endy Chavez in the eighth. It was the 11th assist of the season for Cespedes, most in the majors.

A’s starter Jesse Chavez could be on a relatively short leash with Tommy Milone pitching so well before getting demoted to Triple-A Sacramento and Drew Pomeranz (broken hand) expected off the DL later this month. Chavez was coming off six scoreless innings against the Giants, and he pitched OK on Saturday, allowing 10 hits and three runs, all earned, in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Chavez gave up a one-out double to Corey Hart in the second and then an RBI single by Dustin Ackley, but the Mariners left the bases loaded in the inning. Robinson Cano led off the fifth with a base hit and with one out, Kyle Seager belted a homer to right on what Chavez described as “a flat cutter. That’s my nemesis.” Chavez said his mechanics were a little off all night.

Moss was still smarting after the game about flying out to the warning track while breaking his bat in the fourth inning. He said it’s the third time this season he’s nearly hit a ball out while breaking his bat.

“It should not have broken, I put a really good swing on it – and hit it to the track on a shattered bat,” he said. “Even if the bat cracks and stays together, it’ll go. That is very frustrating. … I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ ”

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller was ejected in the fourth inning after striking out looking. Home-plate umpire Bob Davidson tossed Miller as he was walking away from the plate. The night before, umpire James Hoye ejected A’s infielder Nick Punto and Melvin after Punto struck out to end the game.